Intercooler air ducting

[pajeff87]

Have to give it a bath and do the inside clean out per the "spring cleaning" instructions. Wanted to make sure that the solvent won't harm anything.

[ed39]

Only thing to worry about is making sure it's dry inside the intercooler other than that have at it. I used shop air to blow most of my solvent out. I had a parts washer at my work and filled the ic shook it around and blew it dry

[pajeff87]

I ended up washing it out with a solvent several times, followed by hot soapy water. I then left the intercooler upside down, tilted to one side, to allow all the water to drain out. After that, I blew air through it for a while and then it sat for almost 3 weeks before being installed on the car. Just before installation, I blew it out again and put the end of our Shop Vac into each opening to pull out any remaining debris.

[pajeff87]

I guess I still need some clarification on the front air dam. This is what the center side wings look like on our car -- they are not attached to the core support at the back. I do see dimples in the core support where it appears a fastener is supposed to be, however, it does not look like they were ever utilized.



Other question - regarding the rubber flap at the bottom of the grille opening. Is it supposed to be attached to the bumper? The flap is bolted to the core support and just lays in place on top of the air dam center side wings.

[Shawn N]

Well over time all those plastic and rubber parts warp and don't line back up properly when removed or a previous owner replaced a couple of things and the same thing happened and they just left it. I can send you some pics if you can send me a PM with your email. My car is far from stock underneath but it will show you where the intercooler air dams bolt up but I have a metal air baffles instead of the stock rubber/plastic ones.

[pajeff87]

The parts actually line up fine. If I raise the "side wings" up to the core support, the back holes line up perfectly with the holes in the core support. However, it appears that there was never any sort of fastener installed through the holes. There are no witness marks on the plastic and the holes in the core support have no bevel on them, nor were there witness marks there (before I cleaned and painted it). Just has me puzzled...

[Shawn N]

Should be bolted in here

[pajeff87]

Thanks! That covers it and shows the correct bolt style as well.